Spring Break

Anticipation. That is all that I feel right now as I sit and work in Ellis Library. Why? Spring Break. The time when we, as students and professors, receive a short hiatus from school and classrooms to spend time with family, friends, and the world. The reason I am so anxious for this Spring Break? Boston and NYC.

I have had an obsession, a love-affair for large cities ever since I visited NYC in 2007. My high school choir was traveling there to sing at the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations, I was not about to miss that opportunity. I begged and pleaded my mother to help me afford the trip (because it cost around $1,300 per person), but to my surprise, it did not take much work on my end. As soon as she heard about the possibility of going and exploring NYC, she too wanted in on the action and helped make sure that it was possible for us both to go.

Being there was like being in an entirely new world. The tall buildings, shady alleys, Chinatown, Little Italy, Times Square, subways…it all seemed so new and exciting. I had never experienced anything like it before and haven’t since. It is a place that can stimulate you imagination and make you dream that one day, you can be there and work in a big office on the 80th floor of one of the, seemingly, thousands of skyscrapers. The places we went and the things we did I will never forget for the rest of my life. As soon as I was leaving on the plane from LaGuardia Airport, I made sure to lock up all of my memories deep inside to ensure they would never leave.

Now, as I prepare myself for my return with the love of my life, I am not sure what will happen with those memories. Will they all come spilling out or will I have to discover them one by one as I make my way around the city? Will they overwhelm me or compliment the new experiences? Just thinking of some of them now makes me choke up a little inside. Old friends, teachers, and people in my life that have left or moved away for school or jobs…I miss them, but I know that we are still connected by those memories and times and experiences. No one or time or distance can ever take those away from us.

However, next week Amy and I are going to visit NYC to explore and experience the metropolis together. I will do all I can to suppress my urges to blurt out something I may have done or something that I remember, knowing that we are making new memories together and it is not always the best to think in the past; just enjoy the moment, the present. So, as we prepare to leave on Saturday and travel to the East Coast, I will reflect on what I have already done, but also prepare myself for all of the new memories that I will forever cherish deep down inside of myself forever.